Bash functions are essentially reusable wrappers around commands. You can use them to define complex command pipelines or to perform some detailed work and echo the result. They accept arguments and ...

If you're writing a Bash script, you will invariably need to pass values to it—aka arguments or positional parameters. Bash's approach is a little clunky, but it works. Examples are the easiest way to ...

I've recently written about using bash arrays and bash regular expressions, so here's a more useful example of using them to test IP addresses for validity. To belabor the obvious: IP addresses are 32 ...

Here are steps you can take to ensure that your bash scripts work as intended and are easy to update. Committing routine and even rarely required tasks to scripts is almost always a big win because ...

The first software that I was actually paid to develop was a 2-page shell script that prompted the user for a dozen or so pieces of information, before launching a set of cooperating processes. Those ...

It is easy to dismiss bash — the typical Linux shell program — as just a command prompt that allows scripting. Bash, however, is a full-blown programming language. I wouldn’t presume to tell you that ...